grumpyguts

Checking out my phone bill on the Talk Talk website and happen to look at the "news" page; it turns out Prince William plays bass.

Lovely stuff. I picked up a live CD of BB playing in Cannes in 1983 years ago from HMV; Russell Jackson on bass - cost £1.99 if I remember, best £1.99 I have spent.

The FFS key's is the chap from Sparks. He has been looking like that for years.

Ok - so GAK tells me it won't be in till August. Oh well - looks like the wait will be worth it...

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - I think it's rather good.

I like this, it's like putting a large motorcycle engine in a go kart. Probably not the most efficient use of the power but a lot of fun.

The handles look a little optimistic.

Good news re the sound. I don't mind a bit of weight, 20 years managing warehouses - used to shifting stuff around.

It will be going into a Warwick WCA115 and a 2x10 yet to be purchased.

A rather rash purchase of the above let somewhat by a cost of £233 from GAK, hope I like it when it arrives..

I actually was looking for a clean and punchy amp so it's not totally unjustified.

Anyone here got any views that may cause me to doubt my wisdom? Not something I tend to need much help with!

I had a lump on my right wrist above my thumb, doctor told me it was a Ganglion. This went when I stopped playing in the early 90's.

I am a bit disappointed it didn't come back when I started playing again three years ago.

If the cats that find they can't hold a groove care enough it should be a motivation to get better. If I find that this is me I would want to sort it out.

You could probably spend years doing covers and never really learn to play.

Yes, it seems to me that the process of the "true Jam" as explained earlier is perhaps a necessary route to becoming a competent musician.

Indeed - I don't want to be a player that kid's himself that he can do loads of stuff in the comfort of his spare room but has no idea how to hold it together with a band.

Thanks for the input everyone. The way I am looking at it is this... Getting out there and playing with others has to be a step forward, I may feel differently after a few sessions but it has to be done.

Yes, I would rather we pick a couple of tunes to learn before we meet up and see if we are all on the same page when we get together. Perhaps I will suggest this.

I need something bigger than my Marshall MB30. Just missed out on a Marshall MB4210, I wasn't paying attention at the end of the auction - fail.

So was that a good thing?

Alternatives - not necessary combo's?

After a few years of spare room noodling I have the prospect of playing with an informal Jamming group. This is a way to get back into a band situation, something I have not done for many years.

I generally don't have a problem learning to play along with a variety of stuff from Back in Black to Sir Duke. I do find What is Hip a hill too high - its a speed thing!

I am not too sure what a Jam is - I guess it's totally dependent on the individuals. But as a general rule is there anything I should be able to do beyond root note and 12 bar stuff. I'm fairly sure that if the drummer gets a groove going I can come up with a line to suit; but if the guitarist starts something I might be a bit lost.

Perhaps I shouldn't worry and see what happens...

I spose the only problem is I don't really need 600w at 4 ohms, it results in cab issues I probably don't need. I wonder what it would give at 8 ohms...

Looked on the Ashdown website and there is no mention; is this possibly some Thomann only deal?

Does anyone have any knowledge of the Toneman heads on Thomann?

£253 for 600w looks very tempting...

HTML - Why did that happen? I find myself asking that question quite a lot as I get older!

<p>I started playing in 1985, I was 16;&nbsp;was in a band for a few years - did some gigs and had a lot of fun. All I knew was the shape of the blues scale and pretty much nothing else.</p>
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<p>From 1990 till about 2 years ago I didn&#39;t play. Recently I have been having some lessons and know a lot more stuff than I&nbsp;did, this doesn&#39;t mean I am a better player than I was 30 years ago. What I lack now&nbsp;is experience playing in a band - this I something that I hope to fix this year.&nbsp;However now&nbsp;I&nbsp;know enough to worry about the massive amount of stuff I don&#39;t know - does this make sense? There is a lot to be said for the ignorance of youth!</p>
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My teacher gave me this track to illustrate exactly the point you are making. Don't fill the gaps with unnecessary notes - just be ready for the busy bit in the middle.

Excuse me if this sounds like the ramblings of an idiot but for those who don't get modes this is how I see it.

When doing a bit of practice (farting around) I play what in my mind are "extensions" of scales. For example I play the G major scale starting from position two (A) and move the scale up the neck. This process continues until I get back to the G octave on the E string.

I noticed that the pattern of my extension from position two was the same as the Dorian mode. Its clear that what I considered scale extensions were actually modes, to me this was a bit of a revelation and makes sense.

To remember the order of the modes I came up with the following line...

I Do Prefer Ladies Marvellous And Lovely.

Ionan
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

I must be getting on a bit cos I thought Bono singing "Every Breaking Wave" was rather impressive.

Is it just me?

Seen him twice. First at the Hammersmith Odeon back in 1990 or 91 - its was a long time ago.... He was superb, a great gig cos Mr Cray was the warm up for BB King.

Second time this year at the Anvil Basingstoke. Again very good, funky and bluesy - what's not to like?

Thanks Hamfist, interesting stuff. This tends to confirm my initial thoughts as I am aware of the limitations of the Fender P configuration. I have tried all manner of tone, active, passive etc variations - this bass can do a lot of stuff but not the particular sound I want for slap.

The Westone does everything else very well as far as I am concerned - the fact that it looks nothing like a Fender or any other bass currently available helps; maybe back in 1985 I should have saved harder for a Thunder II.

From what I have read most opinion of these basses is favourable - It's just hard to believe that what was considered an inexpensive bass when new and still a cheap used buy is basically a very good instrument.

The lovely natural bass in pic one is just like mine... except for the lack of distress and the extra pup!